Conventionally, an article retrieval equipment from which articles such as capsules arranged in the equipment body can be retrieved one by one has an article storage chamber for storing the articles such as capsules and a control room for storing a coin selector. A rotary disk having accommodation holes to store articles is pivotally arranged on the bottom wall of the article storage chamber. The bottom wall of the article storage chamber has a falling port which opposes the accommodation holes formed in the rotary disk. The equipment body has a falling passage which opposes the tailing port of the article storage chamber and communicates with an article outlet formed in the lower portion of the equipment body. The equipment body also has an operation part which rotates the rotary disk through a power transmission means to oppose the accommodation holes to the falling port. Then, the articles stored in the accommodation holes fall into the article outlet through the falling port and falling passage. When a coin is inserted in the coin selector from a coin inlet, the rotary disk or power transmission means becomes rotatable. The coin selector has a coin storage case under it.
As disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-20068 (patent reference 1) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-209844 (patent reference 2) and 2002-133492 (patent reference 3), a conventional article retrieval equipment has an article outlet, operation part, coin inlet, controlling opening, and a lid member on the front surface of the main body. A power transmission means can be controlled and a coin storage case can be pulled out through the controlling opening. The lid member opens and closes the controlling opening. In the conventional article retrieval equipment, a control room for storing a coin selector is arranged under an article storage chamber where articles such as capsules are stored (for example, patent references 1, 2, and 3).
The conventional article retrieval equipment also has, spaced apart from the controlling opening through which the power transmission means can be controlled and the coin storage case can be pulled out, an access opening through which the articles in the article storage chamber are unloaded and loaded. The controlling opening and access opening are closed with different portions and opened with different procedures (for example, patent references 1, 2, and 3).
The conventional article retrieval equipment is provided with a regulating member which regulates the sizes of the accommodation holes, as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-212438 (patent reference 4). When small articles are stored in the article storage chamber, the regulating member prevents a plurality of articles from being stored in one accommodation hole of the rotary disk and from falling to the falling port simultaneously. Also, a display which displays the prices, contents, and the like of the articles is pivotally arranged on the front surface of the conventional article retrieval equipment (for example, patent reference 4).
In the conventional article retrieval equipment described above, portions such as a coin slot, article outlet, and an operation part which are used by a customer, and portions such as a coin storage case which are used by a sales person to replenish the articles and control the coin selector and power transmission means are arranged on the front surface of the equipment body. Both the customer and sales person can access the article retrieval equipment only from the front surface of the equipment body. Therefore, the conventional article retrieval equipment is set to be sandwiched between the sales person and customer. When the sales person and customer are to use the article retrieval equipment face to face, the sales person cannot perform operations such as replenishing the articles and pulling out the coin storage case unless he or she moves to the front surface of the equipment body. This is cumbersome.
In the conventional article retrieval equipment, the portions such as the coin storage case which are used by the sales person to replenish the articles and control the coin selector and power transmission means are also arranged on the front surface of the equipment body. Therefore, the customer may be able to access these portions illegally. For the purpose of security control, the article retrieval equipment must be kept under surveillance.
In the conventional article retrieval equipment, the control room is arranged under the article storage chamber which stores the articles such as capsules, and the coin slot, article outlet, operation part, power transmission mechanism, coin selector, and coin storage case are arranged in the control room. Thus, the article retrieval equipment is large in the longitudinal direction. Such an equipment is unstable and thus not suitable to be set on a table such as a counter provided between the sales person and customer.
In the conventional article retrieval equipment, the controlling opening, through which the power transmission means can be controlled and the coin storage case can be pulled out, and the access opening through which the articles are unloaded and loaded from and in the article storage chamber are closed with the different lid members and locked. Different keys are required to open the two openings. Therefore, for the purpose of management, the sales person must always carry two keys, leading to cumbersome management. As the different lid members are required to close the controlling opening and access opening, it is difficult to make the equipment compact.
The conventional article retrieval equipment is provided with the regulating member which regulates the sizes of the accommodation holes so as to cope with a case wherein small articles are stored in the article storage chamber. As the space between the rotary disk and the bottom wall of the article storage chamber does not change, sometimes an article having a small size may be caught in this space and interfere with the rotation of the rotary disk, likely to break the rotary disk.
In the conventional article retrieval equipment, an opening/closing door which opens only to the article outlet side is provided to the falling passage, so the interior of the article retrieval equipment will not be accessed from the article outlet. If an article to fall is large and heavy, it can push the opening/closing door to open when it rotates by its own weight due to the inclination of the falling passage. If the article to fall is small and lightweight, it cannot push the opening/closing door to open and is stopped by the door.
In the conventional article retrieval equipment, the display which displays the price, contents, and the like of the article is pivotally arranged on the front surface of the equipment. As the display can be pivoted externally, sometimes the display may be pivoted erroneously.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. It is the first object of the present invention to provide an article retrieval equipment in which portions such as a coin slot, article outlet, and operation part which are used by the customer are arranged on the front surface of an equipment body, portions such as a coin storage case which are used by the sales person to control the coin selector and power transmission means are arranged on the rear surface of the equipment body, and which is placed between the sales person and customer and particularly suitable to be used by the sales person and customer face to face.
It is the second object of the present invention to provide a compact article retrieval equipment in which a control room provided with a coin slot, article outlet, operation part, power transmission mechanism, coin selector, and coin storage case is formed beside an article storage chamber which stores articles such as capsules. It is the third object of the present invention to provide an article retrieval equipment in which a controlling opening through which the power transmission means can be controlled and the coin storage case can be pulled out, and an access opening through which the articles are unloaded and loaded from and in the article storage chamber are closed with one lid member, so that only one key suffices, leading to easy management.
It is the fourth object of the present invention to provide an article retrieval equipment in which the height of the bottom wall of an article storage chamber is adjusted in accordance with the size of an article to be retrieved so the article can be transported to the falling port smoothly, to prevent a plurality of articles from falling to the falling port simultaneously.
It is the fifth object of the present invention to provide an article retrieval equipment in which a falling position where an article falls onto a falling passage from a falling port is set spaced apart from an opening/closing door so the falling article can be speeded. Thus, cases wherein a small, lightweight article is undesirably stopped by the opening/closing door can decrease.
It is the sixth object of the present invention to provide an article retrieval equipment in which a display which displays the price, contents, and the like of the article is covered with a transparent cover body to prevent the display from being changed accidentally.